Ultra-low-power stress-based phase actuator for microwave photonics

The next generation of applications in integrated microwave photonics[1], such as optical beam forming networks or programmable photonic processors[2], requires complex chip designs with hundreds or even thousands of actuators and low propagation losses. While passive material platforms such as silicon nitride possess ultra-low losses in the telecommunication C-Band, today their on-chip phase actuation, however, is solely based on thermo-optic tuners and, hence, suffering from huge power dissipation.